Eternal Exile
by Ominous-Tocsin
Summary: When Raven loses control of Rage and almost destroys the world, she realizes that she needs to leave the Teen Titans in order to gain better control of her destructive powers. When she returns 3 years later, things are not as she left them...[BBxRae]
1. Chapter 1: Rage

If it is possible for a Tower to literally shake and jump by power of one individual's mouth, I swear I saw my teacup leap a meter in the air.

"WHY DO YOU HATE ME SO MUCH, RAVEN?" Beast Boy spat out at me.

I peered into my tea and took a sip. "Because you have a mouth," I said nonchalantly.

I've never seen someone's aura fire up quite so quickly as Beast Boy's did right that moment. It was like putting the end of a thermometer up Magma's ass. Interesting.

"You just think I'm an annoying little monkey idiot-"

"-Ooh, you just hit the spot, but missed a few adjectives. How about we add in that you are a naïve, ignorant, half-wit, simpleton, twit, pathetic, petty, immature, gullible, insufferable, annoying little monkey idiot who is a complete and utter jackass. I'm sorry if the last one hurt your feelings."

Flames danced behind Beast Boy's eyes, and I could see him quake with silent fury. "Huh, so that's all I am in your eyes? Stupid? Well, guess what? You're a lonely, depressed, cruel, twisted, creepy little sob story, who has no life except to make smart comments about everyone and everything around you. Dude, you're so…so…-"

Starfire hovered nervously between us, her hands spread out, as if trying to keep our insults away from each other. "Please, friends," she said in a distressed tone, "Why don't we calm down and forget about the process of fighting and instead skip to the process of proclaiming one's pardons?"

Of course, Beast Boy ignored her, and trudged right along in his little hate speech. "So…MEAN. And rude, and cold and dark, a-and creepy, and …"

He was running out of adjectives. 'Creepy' had already been used twice. My tea was quivering.

"…And at least I have a life, and I have friends, and I don't understand how anyone in this team even likes you, 'cause I sure as hell don't! He lowered his tone, glowering. "I don't understand how anyone in the world could ever like you. No one likes an unfeeling robot."

I froze, staring at him. Beast Boy was breathing harshly, his breath coming out in sharp puffs.

_So that's what I am to people? _

_An unfeeling robot?_

By now it would've been humanly, or superhumanly, impossible to ignore this storm of words. Robin took this silence as an opportunity to act as self-appointed mediator, and looking over at us from his seat on the large leather couch, said in a serious tone, "Gar, take that back."

Beast Boy jerked his head over in Robin's direction, shouting, "Why should I? _She _isn't saying sorry-"

I think I heard Starfire and Robin calling my name as I took off into my room. But I didn't turn to look back, or answer.

--

Once inside the confines of my room, I bolted the door. I floated to a corner of my room, and sat there, my heart pounding in my chest. I hugged my knees to my chest, staring at the ground.

_"He shouldn't have said that to you. He had no right to." _A soft voice whispered in my subconscious.

"No…he did. I'm everything he said. Everything."

_"No, you are wrong. _He _is the unfeeling one. He doesn't understand what you've been through. Nobody does."_

"No…nobody does." I muttered, closing my eyes and pressing my forehead against my pale legs, rocking back and forth slowly.

_"You should hate him for what he said."_

"I…do."

_"He should feel the pain that you have."_

"Yes…he should."

_"Then let me out, and I will show him. I'll show him, and everybody, your pain. Then they will understand. Then they will finally accept you."_

Looking back, at this point normally I would've been perturbed to find a dark corner of my mind was consoling me, and even more that I was agreeing with it. But by then, I was wallowing too deep in self-pity to think rationally.

"Fine. But…who are you?"

_Someone very close to your heart._

The next thing occurred so quickly, I can't really describe it all. My eyes shot open, but I saw nothing but white. Without warning, and unspeakable agony began coursing through my body. I wanted to scream, but no sound availed me. I felt as if some part of me was draining out through my eyes, escaping into the vast inky blackness of the universe. In some planet far, far away from where I was, I heard muffled, hollow screams of shock, horror, surprise…fear.

A last wave of anguish rushed through me, and I crumbled to the ground.

The last thing I heard before I died was the same, soft voice snickering in my ear, _"Thank you Raven, for letting me go."_

--

I didn't really die. I just came a disturbingly feather's breadth to meeting Mr. Joe Black himself.

The door to my room exploded. Hands pulled me up, a voice cried, "Raven, Raven dude, wake up! Please, wake up!" A rough, gloved tapped my face, and my eyes slowly cracked open. Eyes of verdure stared at me, which until recently had been filled with hatred, now housed pure panic.

"Bea…" I croaked weakly. Beast Boy looked like I had just announced to him that he had won a million bucks. He pulled me up, supporting my back. "Rae, are you okay, dude, we thought you had exploded or something…"

Thoughts swam in my head at a trillion miles an hour, and I felt strangely weak. Yet one thought slowed down enough for me to process it and give it voice. I grabbed Beast Boy's shirt and pulled him closer to me so I could whisper in his ear. "Gar, it's gone…it escaped, it's going to hurt people…I let out something horrible."

Beast Boy gave me a strange look, and asked in a hushed and concerned tone, "What are you talking about? What did you let out?" Before I could answer, something white-hot rushed in my veins, and I cried in torment. Beast Boy tightened his grip on me and yelled out "Cy, we need to help – she's in pain!" He turned to me again, yet now I couldn't make out his face. I felt someone – Robin probably, from the feeling of his aura - grab my arm and say in a serious tone, "Raven, can you hear me? Are you okay?"

Beast Boy let me go slowly, and a pair of steel hands pulled me up onto the bed. I felt cool metal across my forehead, and Cy's rough voice said, "She's burning with fever, I could give her something to fix that, but I don't know how she'd react, I've never given her med's before…" I felt Robin's presence next to the bed, his aura filled with anxiety. "Raven, what happened?"

I opened my mouth to try to explain to him, but only a soft groan came out.

Tower sirens cut through the air. I heard Starfire stutter, "Friends, something is terribly, terribly wrong outside."

I heard horrified gasps as the siren wailed. Cyborg swore. "Something is taking over the city. Starfire, Cyborg, you guys come with me, we'll need the T-Car. Beast Boy, you stay here and monitor Raven, and call me when she's stable. I have no idea what's going on, but I sure she might know something. Titans, move!"

I felt Robin, Cyborg's, and Starfire's presences leave the room, leaving Beast Boy stuttering, "But wait, I don't know how to take care of sick people!" Only silence met his cry. He moved towards me, his aura hesitant. "Rae, I'm sorry, okay? I didn't mean what I said…just get better fast." I felt him place his hand on my arm, then left.

Only then that I found I could move.

I sat up, my head feeling as if I listened to a lifetime's worth of Beast Boy's jokes. Or maybe Cyborg had hit me in the head with the T-Car. Either way, I tried to stand up, but my knees buckled beneath me. I growled in frustration, and a small throbbing had sprung up in my head again. Beast Boy walked back into the room ladled with a small mug of what I figured to be herbal tea, but sent it tumbling to the floor when he saw me up.

"Rae!" he cried, helping me up and back onto the bed. "You're okay…good, don't move too much you might…sprain something."

"I think my brain's sprained," I muttered, putting a hand to my head. The throbbing had been steadily increasing.

Beast Boy once again took a serious tone, his hands on my shoulders. "Dude, what were you talking about…you let something loose? What…better yet, how?"

I closed my eyes. My head was in no condition to think, let alone explain. "Remember, a long time ago, when you and Cyborg got trapped in my subconscious? Rage had been taking over my emotions, so we managed to defeat it in battle and subdue it enough so it became a normal part of my mind. Well…I don't think I subdued her as well as I thought I had."

Gar's eyes widened, and he paled slightly. "You mean that freaky-looking red-coated monster? That's out and running wild in the streets?"

I sighed heavily. "That's what I think."

"But how did you let it out?"

"It just…came out. It's hard to explain, I didn't know it was Rage at the time, I just thought it was another emotion consoling me after our…fight. It…it asked me if I wanted to show people my…pain."

I felt Beast Boy's eyes stare at me with an intensity I had never felt before. I focused my eyes on the ground. "I said…yes. I thought it would make people understand." My hair hid my face as I continued. "It was stupid and selfish and naïve on my part. And now thousands of people are going to die."

"No." said Beast Boy firmly, tightening his grip on my shoulders. "They aren't because we're going to stop it before it gets worse."

I stood up, steadying myself with the edge of the bed, and managed to stumble to the window of my room. I lay my hand on the window and peered outside.

Black energy ran rampant through the streets, destroying everything in its path. Streets broke apart; store windows broke as uprooted trees smashed through them and tumbled down the street. Vehicles flipped over and building glass exploded and scattered. Some of the energy took shapes of incubuses, terrorizing and massacring people with their blinding eyes and sharp claws. Blood decorated the sidewalks and the streets, screams ripped through the rust-colored sky. Screams that echoed endlessly in my head, smothered and overlapping each other, playing over and over in the depths of my conscious…

I put my hands on my ears as I cried out, "Please, stop, shut up!"

I felt Beast Boy's hands wrap around my shoulders and he spoke into my ear. "Rae, what's wrong…get away from the window!"

He pulled me to the ground, and I silent tears streamed down my face. The throbbing in my head was maddening. I buried my head in Gar's chest, feeling frightened and confused for the first time in my life.

"No…" I whispered. "It already _is _worse."

Gar held me as if protecting me, murmuring steadily, "Rae, you're the only one who knows how to beat this thing. There has to be some way…"

Sense finally decided to act, and I realized that wasting away my time springing tears was simply costing another person's life. I let go of Beast Boy, and wiped away my tears with the back of my hand. "No…there is a way. I just need to find it."

I hovered over to my iron bookshelf, and started pulling out all the scrolls and books on dark magick I owned. "Rage…" I said, throwing a rather heavy book on the medicinal properties of wolfsbane onto the floor, "Since she exists as a figment of my mind, she's going to have my attributes and powers." _Guide to Soul-Searching _crashed against the wall, narrowly missing Beast Boy's head. "She might even be more powerful than I am, considering she has my father's influence. All the same, she can be defeated with the same thing I can."

I finally found the scroll I was searching for. "This, scroll has an ancient incantation for destroying any sort of malicious spirit. It's one of the hardest spells out there, but it just might work for destroying Rage."

I placed it on my chest, and it slowly sank into my being. A second later, I could have said that incantation backwards standing upside-down on Beast Boy morphed as an elephant drinking a cup of water and juggling sticks of fire with my feet. Not that I would ever do that or see reason for it.

"See, I knew you'd find a way," grinned Beast Boy, pleased with himself.

"Eh…sure." For some reason, I didn't want to disturb Gar's smile with mentioning that I could be killed while reciting the incantation. Well, it's not like that concerned him anyhow.

"Look, I need to call Robin first, tell him we're coming-" muttered Beast Boy, flicking open his small communicator. He tapped it a few times, a frown across his face. "What the hell is wrong with this? It's nothing but static…"

"There's too much magickal interference in the air for any signals to get through, and besides we don't have much time. We need to leave. Now would be good."

Gar latched the communicator on his belt, and then paused, focusing somewhere outside. "Look…Rae…this is all my fault. If I hadn't been such a jackass to you, none of this would've happened. I'm sorry."

I would've enjoyed this apology say the end of the world wasn't leering towards us, but now I felt just as guilty. "No…Rage was bound to get out eventually. It's not your fault. I accept your apology. I…just hope you can accept mine."

Beast Boy didn't have a chance to answer because I was already opening my window. I morphed into my soul self, an ebony raven, and I then Beast Boy materialized next to me, an emerald raven.

"Alright, let's go give you some anger management lessons!" He said, launching himself out of my window.

Perhaps, in another place, another time, I might have laughed.


	2. Chapter 2: Night Terrors

A/N: Thank you very much for the kind reviews. And the saga continues…this ff will update **twice **a week at random.

Notes: An incubus in lore was a spirit that would…ehm… molest people in their sleep. You could also call a particularly vivid or disturbing nightmare an incubus. I'm going for the latter- in this story these 'incubuses' are personified nightmares of a sort – bogeymen to be simple. These things will probably be better explained next chapter.

* * *

Robin roared down the broken street in his motorcycle, a growing sense of foreboding gnawing in his head every inch he traveled. This was something that he had never encountered before…sure, as a superhero he had seen his fair share of blood and gore, but the sight that surrounded him, the scene that lay before him…this was utter _carnage_

He'd never been particularly squeamish, but all the same, it takes someone with a heart of iron not to feel a little queasy when human entrails are dangling off flickering light posts and dismembered limbs lay scattered like morbid confetti on the sidewalk. Whatever it was that was causing all this butchery was definitely no normal supervillain…who knows if this thing even had an ounce of humanity in its being.

He stopped his motorcycle by the edge of a curb and got off, pulling out his communicator. He tried to call Beast Boy, to see if there was any word on Raven (he had never really trusted for Beast Boy to call on his own anyhow). The communicator showed nothing but static. _"Strange…" _he thought, placing the communicator back on his belt. The warm, summer wind ruffled his hair. The street was eerily quiet. The entire solitary ride from where he split up with Cyborg and Starfire had been quiet. He'd been half-expecting for to encounter some sort of assault by now, some ambush, raid, bombardment, even something just popping out of the shadows and saying 'boo'. Instead there was nothing but a queer silence screeching throughout the city.

He was about to head on forward when he felt something swiftly dash behind him.

He swirled around quickly, pulling off his helmet. The hairs on the back of his neck prickled, a cold sweat forming on his brow. Suddenly something fell with a large _clatter _behind him, causing him to jump around in surprise, his retractable iron bar at the ready. A trash can lid rolled out onto the street and swiveled a bit before settling itself nicely on the concrete. A cat hissed somewhere.

Robin took a few steps back, his heart beating like a scared rabbit. _"Right Robin, you're making a fool of yourself. There's no reason to be afraid. You're Robin, leader of the Teen Titans, formerly the legendary Batman's sidekick. Batman's sidekick knows no fear." _

_"Indeed, sweet birdie." _

Robin almost gave a yelp as a soft, malicious voice whispered behind him. He turned around ready to strike, but nothing was there except the wind.

"Great, now you're hearing things. Nice way to intimidate your enemies Robin." He muttered to himself. Then someone snickered, the laugh reverberating down the street. Robin tensed, tightening his grip on his bar, and yelled, "Whoever's out there, stop hiding and show yourself!"

_"Sure."_

If it hadn't been for years of this happening, Robin's head would've been rolling down the street from the huge, eloquently decorated carving knife that had sailed past his neck. Luckily, our intrepid leader had just managed to duck it, somersault, and stand back up, facing his assailant. He gasped in shock when he discovered who it was.

"_Raven_!"

A pair of pearly canines appeared as the creature under the ruby-red coat grinned, her blood-lusting eyes blazing, carving knife in hand. _"No…" _she hissed, _"But close enough."_

Rage shot up into the air, and raising her hands, dropping the knife. _"Hah!" _She cried as suddenly five incubuses appeared beneath her, their spear-like claws dripping with blood. They snarled and growled, drool seeping from their flesh-filled mouths.

Robin tensed, determined not to let the fear he felt show upon his face. This was definitely not Raven…but he couldn't deny that Raven had something to do with this…if only his damn communicator worked, then maybe he could get some answers…

_"Get that pigeon!"_ cried Rage, and the minions sprang forward, screaming in wild fury.

Well, there'll be time to worry about that later.

One incubus lurched towards him, his mouth open and emitting a spine crawling shriek. He aimed for Robin's stomach, expecting to meet soft skin encasing juicy organs, but instead got a mouthful of metal instead. His jaws clamped furiously on Robin's iron bar, Robin using all the strength he had to send the creature flying into the nearest phone booth. The next one attacked behind him, its claws outstretched, hoping to impale the boy wonder right through his neck. Robin thrust his bar backwards, catching the incubus in the stomach. He leaped in the air, extending his steel-soled boot just in time to crunch the face of the third embodied nightmare.

He landed with a soft _thud_ on the ground, then reached inside his jacket for a handful of flying bombs. The sunlight caught their shimmer just as he threw them at the remaining two minions. They screeched as they exploded, turning into nothing but puffs of smoke.

Robin was breathing heavily by the end of this, sweat dripping down his face in torrents. One of the incubuses had managed to scratch him in the arm, leaving a deep, burning gash, which had begun to pulsate unbearably. Yet he managed to retain a smug smile as he called up to Rage, "That's all you have to throw at me? Now I know you're just an evil, cheap imitation of Raven."

Rage scowled, her crimson eyes narrowing. She reached out her hand, and the carving knife levitated up to her grasp. With a cry of anger she hurled it at Robin, yet with one swift movement he managed to deflect it with his iron bar. It dematerialized into ebony smoke as it touched the ground. He gave a small chuckled as he called back up, "Well, I didn't mean you to take that so literal-"

He didn't manage to finish his sentence because by then, one large, razor-sharp claw had impaled him through the shoulder. He slumped to his knees as the incubus behind him snarled, pleased with himself. Robin's iron bar dropped to the floor, and blood spurted from his mouth. Rage smirked as she hovered down to the ground, and with one slender hand picked up his bar.

_"Raven always thought you were a great leader." _She murmured as the incubus retracted his claw, leaving Robin collapsing on his hands and knees, shaking in pain and exhaustion as an endless sea of blood oozed from his mouth and chest, dripping onto the floor in a sickening cascade. _"But she always found you to be a little _slow

Then, in one vexation-driven movement she cracked him in the head. And Robin knew no more.

She tossed the bar behind her as the five incubuses rematerialized before her. _"Take him away. Place him with the others,"_ she growled, staring at Robin's body sprawled on the shattered concrete, blood now seeping from a wound in his temple.

_"Now all we have to do is wait for that stupid green changeling, and then my dear Raven. And this happy reunion will be complete."_

--

"Dude, do you even know where this demented mutation of an emotion is?" Beast Boy cawed, flapping his wings nervously.

I didn't answer him immediately; rather I scanned the city, in hope that the black magick that filled it would give me some clues. Sure enough, it ebbed away near the outskirts of the city, where we are, yet I observed that as we traveled deeper inside the city, the satanic matter multiplied, and increased in power. Yet a drawback was that the energy was constantly moving and churning, never remaining in one spot for too long. I sighed in frustration; this was going to be harder than I thought.

"We can find Rage by following the dark energy that she produces. I think her power condenses and grows stronger as we get closer to her. However, by the looks of it, it appears as if she's moving…and fast. It'll be hard to track her."

Beast Boy opened his beak as if to add something, but shut it abruptly. He peered down below, his jade-tinted eye widening in shock. He looked back up to me. "Raven, look, there's someone down there being attacked by those freaky bogeyman things!"

Hi-pitched screams penetrated the sky from the street below, obviously coming from a young girl. Beast Boy had already begun lowering himself down, obviously to help. I cried after him in panic, "Gar, we have no time to help! Every moment Rage is left undefeated she grows in strength!"

Beast Boy shot up at me angrily, "So we're just going to ignore her? We're superheroes, and superheroes are there to _save _people. Go on without me, I'll catch up with you later. I'm going down to do my job."

He continued swooping down, ruffling his viridian wings, intent on saving this damsel in distress. I rolled my eyes; _this_ is why I hate human morality. Always obsessed with the small details instead of the large picture. "Gar, wait!" I cawed after him, diving down. It wasn't because I wanted to save the girl, more that I'd have to save Beast Boy's sorry ass when he realized what type of mess he was getting himself into.

By the time I had landed a robust, brawny-hided rhinoceros was already charging the large, nightmarish specter that was terrorizing a scrawny five-year-old, who whimpered silently, huddled over in a corner of a dank alleyway. The incubus had no time to react as Gar sunk his weathered horn into its ink-like chest. It gave an unholy shriek and reached behind itself with a twisted, spike-covered arm to grasp Beast Boy by the neck using its clamp-like claws. He wrenched Beast Boy from his back and threw him against the rust-colored alley wall, sending him flying through several rooms of a dingy apartment.

"_Gar_!" I cried out, feeling a small sense of panic. _"Damn idiot doesn't know what he's dealing with," _I thought as my eyes clouded with dark shadows and I levitated myself into the air, above the incubus. Out of the corner of my eye I spied a small dumpster. Black orbs formed around my hands as I yelled, "_Azarath, Metrion, Zynthos_!" aiming my energy at the dumpster. I heaved it at the brut, knowing that while it wouldn't kill it, it would slow it down for a while. It flipped and landed on the incubus, making it dissipate in a wisp of smoke.

I lowered myself to the little girl, who's bright cerulean eyes where the size of teacups now. "Are you alright?" I asked in a deadpan voice. Not that I was really concerned. She nodded vigorously, only stopping after I lay my hand on her shoulder muttering, "Alright, alright, you're okay. Good." Her eyes never blinked or left my face, and she kept caressing a worn, ash-colored teddy bear, even though it had gotten its head ripped off. Creepy. I predict therapy sessions with several specialists and lifetime mental health care support in the future for this tot. If there is a future.

I turned around to go look for Beast Boy, when I heard several gurgling noises from under the overturned dumpster. I circled just in time to see the incubus's crooked hands pop out from under the dumpster, and catapult it towards us. In a second, I created a dark energy sphere to ricochet it, yet the sound caused by the offending aluminum container sent the already severely disturbed girl into a fit of tears. And wailing children always do wonders for my concentration. The incubus had already begun attacking the force field, using his long, saw-like claws to rake into the field, and the throbbing in my head had resurfaced again. Every scratch the beast made sunk into my soul self, wearing down on the field, every second that passed the eternal pulsating in my head intensified.

I gritted my teeth, prepared for the worst. If need be, I can form the remaining field into an energy ball and blast it at the incubus, and then –

"_ROOOOAAAR_!"

A giant, green, grotesque Tyrannosaurus Rex lunged its head at the incubus, heaving it into the air. It landed like an atomic bomb, forming a huge crater in the middle of the deserted street. Any windows that weren't already demolished spontaneously combusted, spraying glass everywhere. I turned around and shielded the young girl from the blast, my coat deflecting any stray shards. I then turned to watch the G-Rex tackle the demon again, dangling it in his large mandibles. I could see the incubus struggling to keep Gar from completely clamping down, yet with another large bellow Gar opened his mouth completely for a split-second, and then sent his upper jaw snapping down on the malignant spirit. Nothing but black fumes escaped from Beast Boy's jaws.

One word. Ew. Incubus for lunch. Tofu's bad enough. Seriously.

Gar's blanched eyes suddenly widened, and he began emitted hoarse, grunting noises from the back of his throat. It took me a second to realize he was choking. I flew rapidly to his side, were he lay on his hands and knees, grasping his throat, gasping and sputtering. I murmured "_Azarath, Metrion, Zynthos_," under my breath, laying a hand on the back of his neck. His neck glowed for a second, then he gave on last violent cough, and spat out a ball of what at first glance appeared to be jet-black grease. It jiggled and began sliding to and fro for a while, and I knew at once that this thing would begin rematerializing soon if I didn't eradicate it immediately.

I walked up to it, placing my index finger and middle finger together on both hands and bending the remaining fingers. I paused right before the ball, which was beginning to grow in height and diameter. I needed to act fast. I placed on hand facing upwards and the other downwards, and began chanting softly,

_"Creature of Azarath, son of my breath,_

_Death to birth and birth to death, _

_Hold all evil safe at bay,_

_Day to night and night to day." _

My eyes clouded once again and a faint, dark light began glowing around me, hazing and flickering. Then my face contorted in pain as I felt my soul self wrench itself from my physical self, slowly fighting the constraints of my earthen body.

Then something inside of me exploded, and emerged. The first lines of my incantation etched themselves in silver on my chest as a gigantic, misty, almost formless raven appeared before me. It cried out into the blood red sky, extending its colossal wingspan. By now the incubus was regaining its form, its body bubbling as new, larger spikes exploded from its arm. It snorted; rancid steam puffing from its distorted nostrils, and it raised his arm, about to strike.

Then it froze, its large, mucous snout agape. In an instant, the raven I had summoned had shot right through it, leaving nothing but a gaping hole in its chest. Then it began convulsing, smaller holes rapidly burning through its body. It stared at its hand in disbelief as it disintegrated before it, and clawed the air in quick succession in one last attempt to destroy what was destroying him. The raven simply hovered a good few feet above him, watching him, an almost sardonic glint in its eye. The incubus gave one last violent shudder, howled to the heavens, and shattered into nothing.

I raised my coat to shield myself from the sonic boom released by the nightmare as a final act of goodbye. When I lowered it, the giant raven had gone. So had the lettering on my chest. I sank down, my energy almost exhausted. Then I remembered Beast Boy.

I walked over to him, where he sat, a look of surprise playing on his boyish face. "Well," he said, still clutching his neck from his little consumption catastrophe, "That's something new."

I crouched down next to him, pulling back my hood. "It's part of the incantation I'm going to use to defeat Rage. It's supposed to summon a sort of spiritual familiar, something that can destroy all manner of malignant beings. Really it's a personification of one's soul power, and the incantation acts as a sort of catalyst, amplifying that personification."

"A raven for you; fitting," said Beast Boy observantly.

"However, the spell in itself is extremely exhausting. It took a lot of my energy to kill one simple incubus, and I only recited the first few lines..." I raised my hand to my head, adding softly "I don't want to think of having to kill hundreds or thousands of them. And then Rage…" The sheer task of it all was overwhelming.

_"I could die…I could _die_…"_

I felt Gar nudge me gently on my shoulder. "Hey, funnily enough, that raven didn't seem tired at all…didn't you see the expression on its face after it took out that brute? It was _laughing_. It was really proud of itself…it was happy. Even if you don't think you can do this, it does. And so do I. Besides Rae, you're not doing this alone, so for the millionth time, get that through your thick skull-"

I raised an eyebrow. "_My _thick skull. I was the one who was snacking on some spirit from the netherworld, mind you."

Beast Boy rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, muttering, "I wasn't trying to eat it, it just kinda slipped down to my throat by acci – Hey, we're having a moment here, don't ruin it!"

I rolled my eyes, a half-hearted smile creeping upon my face. "Well, thanks for pulling off the whole 'savior-coming-in-at-the-nick-of-time' thing…my energy field was wearing thin, I'm not sure what I would've done if it had gotten through…"

Gar raised his hands up in mock humility, and he spoke in a fake low, macho drone, "No worries ma'am; I was jus' doin' mah duty."

A small whine emerged from the back of the alleyway, slowly erupting into a blown-out bawl. I almost forgot, the girl. We walked up to her, Beast Boy holding his hands to his ears in a feeble attempt to block out the noise pollution. "What are we going to do with her?" he called out over the din. I sighed.

"Gar, you'll have to take her to one of the safe houses on the outskirts of the city- there'll be people there who can look after her there."

"But what about you?"

I placed my hood back up. "I'll continue on."

Beast Boy had morphed into a gorilla and was trying to cheer up the blubbering babe making…monkey faces. Ha, ha. Her screams only intensified. "Good luck with that," I added, morphing back into my soul self. I was about to take off when Gar called out, "But wait, how will I be able to catch up with you?"

I looked back at him, my amethyst eyes piercing his jade ones. "Follow the dark matter – wherever Rage is I'll be. Or use your, and I quote, "mad tracking skillz". Turn into a cheetah or something."

I flapped my wings, gaining altitude, when I heard Gar shouting, "Hey, be careful! Don't go all self-sacrificy on me, okay?"

I nodded, and took off.

Down below, Beast Boy watched continued watching me, carefully picking up the sniveling girl. "Tcch, knowing you, that's _exactly _what you're going to do."

* * *

Notes: I'm sure there's got to be safe houses or something in high-evil-villain prone areas like Jump City…raises eyebrow. 


	3. Chapter 3: Steel Stakes, Stone Tears

A/N: Thanks again, for the kind reviews. I'm sorry if you find this one a bit long; I wanted to get as much in as possible. If you have any questions about any of the chapters, don't be afraid to ask in a review. I don't have much to say here, other than I hope the chapter speaks for itself, and that you enjoy it. Adieu for now.

--

The wind whispered soft words of warning under the amber sky. I shivered, and rubbed my left arm. I was nowhere.

The city square, normally a bustling, active hubbub around the late afternoon now lay desolate and silent. Not a soul lay in sight, except for a single statue carved in a most peculiar fashion near a café. I walked up to it, intrigued. It was a woman, her eyes filled with horror, her mouth yawning in an eternal scream. In her arms she grasped a young babe, pressing him against her chest. Stone tears rolled down the lad's cheeks, and he gripped his mother's shirt in fear. Both held each other in vain hope that they could somehow shield themselves from whatever it was that was terrorizing them.

Then I realized that they weren't statues. They were humans.

"So this is another way the incubuses kill. Through scaring their victims to death," I murmured, touching the mother's hand. Her skin felt like icy marble. I sighed, and summoned a checkered tablecloth from inside the café. I gently placed the tablecloth over the mother and son, feeling it was the best I could do for now. Until I could reverse all the monstrosities that I had unleashed.

I stepped away from them, and observed my surroundings. Despite the eerie silence, and the morbid scenario behind me, all was…normal. No dark matter seeping out from alleyways and plaguing the streets, no red-eyed bogeymen threatening to cleanly dismember me. As I said before, I was nowhere. It was as if Rage had evaporated into thin air. Even the monotonous throbbing in my head, which had only increased as I had gotten here, had vanished. Thank Azar for small favors.

Then a thought occurred to me. As real and psychopathic Rage may be, she was still only a sentiment, an emotion. _My _emotion. This, theoretically, would mean we should remain mentally and spiritually 'connected'. If I meditated hard enough, I could probably still contact her, and in doing so, figure out where she was. Brilliant.

I levitated several meters into the air, and crossed my legs in a lotus position. I breathed in deeply, exhaled. I raised the tips of my fingers to my temple, and muttered, _"Azarath…Metrion…Zynthos…"_

Then my stomach lurched. And for a second, I think I ceased to exist.

I felt my soul self streak down abandoned city streets, dash around curbs and finally slip into a moss-covered gutter. Once inside the city sewage system I traveled through slime dripping walls and rusted pipes, a stench of rotting organic material infiltrating my nostrils. Then I paused for a split-second as the pipe I was traveling in opened up into a huge, almost vacuous space half-filled with sewage. I plunged into the revolting cesspool and swam until the bottom, where a small hatch lay. It sprang open without me even having to command it. I felt myself get swiftly sucked in, and then found myself in blackness. Out of the dark four crimson eyes flew open, and Rage's leering, haunting voice whispered,

_"Found me."_

My eyes burst open with a start, and I almost toppled out of the air as my thoughts swam in rampant circles in my head. I steadied myself, and found that I was gulping for air, gasps escaping from my throat. I placed an ashen hand on my heart – it had been a long time since I had felt it beat so hard.

I floated to the ground, and placed a hand on the concrete. Rage's words echoed in my ears…they disturbed me. It was as if she was expecting me…better yet, waiting for me. Joy. She probably had this planned out all along. I couldn't wait to see what surprise she had for me.

Using my psychokinetic abilities, I pried open a sewer hole which lead down to the under-city pipes. I peered down into the dank atmosphere, seeing nothing but darkness, yet feeling it just as much. Guess there was only one way to find out.

--

Victor Stone's dark eyes cracked open slowly. Everything was blurry, and he felt deeply sedated…he couldn't remember where he was or what had happened to him…come to think of it, he couldn't remember much at all.

He felt different. For some reason, he felt more…human. Slowly, almost painstakingly, he lifted his left hand. In the bright light that blinded him from above, he could barely make out the silhouette of a large, weathered, human hand. _"Human…"_ Victor thought. The word was alien to him. He slowly reached up his right hand to feel his left, as if to make sure of something. Human flesh encasing coarse bones. _"Flesh…"_ That thought was alien to him too.

He began to sit up, but felt something tugging at his head. He reached up to feel something large and metallic covering his skull, sharp needles piercing several points of his cranium. Suddenly someone came rushing up to him, a professional yet maternal voice hushing at him to "Lay down honey, we're not quite done with the experiment yet. We still need to introduce several new bits of data into your head, and it will take at least another half-hour. Just keep still."

_"Experiment…wait, what experiment… I'm a human being…experiments are things you do with guinea pigs or something…why isn't some critter being injected in the head with info?"_

"Mom…" Victor croaked out weakly. His head hurt; it felt like he a thousand bolts of information surged into his brain every second. Names of people who he had never heard of, dates of things he had never cared to learn about, equations, formulas, theories, hypotheses, philosophies, the largest square pandigital number, the scientific name for a platypus.

_"9,814,072,356; Ornithorhynchus anatinus." _

"…" He needed an aspirin the size of Mount Rushmore. Which was carved in the Black Hills of South Dakota between the years of 1927 to 1941 with an average of 4.666666667 years between the carving of each face, rounded to the nearest one thousand millionth.

_"I need to get out of here."_

Victor slowly got up, and began to pull out every needle that stood connected to his head, one by one. He ignored the pain, and his parent's sudden gasps.

"Victor!" yelled his father, dropping his clipboard and racing to restrain his son. He tried to lay him down, but the young Stone began struggling viciously, still trying to pluck out the remaining needles. "Son, calm down! We're…still…not…done with…the experiment…! Martha, get the sedatives!"

Victor's eyes widened in horror as those last words left his father's lips. Didn't they understand he was their _son_, not some test subject? With a roar he pushed past his father, pain racking his body as the final needles ripped themselves from his head. He straggled drunkenly towards the large, metal door that led out of his parent's laboratory, only to find it bolted and locked. He slumped against it, sinking to the floor, his sense of reality slowly slipping from him. He heard his mother's footsteps and the hiss of the syringe as it spilled out new sedative. He stumbled on his hands and knees to a corner, pressing his back against it in terror. Somewhere he heard his father's voice command, "Victor, son, we don't want to hurt you…we just need to finish this last experiment…"

"No…no…mreom, nooooww…" he slurred, clawing the bleached wall, hoping to somehow scratch through the uneven stucco. He felt his mother whisper calmly, "Now Victor, just relax…" No, he couldn't relax. There was a game this afternoon, he _needed _to be there, the boys were counting on him…he was the damn MVP. This was the final match; he couldn't just stand them up…

"_NOOOOO!" _He cried, shoving his mom into the wall, trying to escape from this hell-house. But it was too late; he felt the prick of the needle as his father injected him with the mind-dozing serum. He felt his reality sliding, the walls closing in, Lincoln's marble face dancing in front of his eyes, and someone carrying him back to the examiner's chair, someone placing that wretched device back on his head. Needles clink in, data flows again. Names, dates, numbers, equations, formulas…

He hated them. He hated those people he called his parents. Those people who saw him as nothing but a chance to use a human subject for their ridiculous artificial human intelligence enhancing projects. He didn't care if he was stupid, he just wanted to be normal, to be able to make Saturday afternoon games and then celebrate victories with the boy's at Pop's later. He hated his parents. He wasn't their son, he was their lab rat.

He wished they would just die.

--

Rage let her hand drop from Cyborg's forehead, feeling rejuvenated. Despite this young man's seemingly calm exterior, he held a lot of resentment inside, a lot of _rage. _Perfect. Rage fed off rage, became stronger the more fury it was given. She had already finished sucking the remaining vehemence from the other two Titans – young, angst-ravaged adolescents were always the best fountain of rabid emotions. Especially ones with shredded, murky pasts – it was a feast. Raven was really such a bore, always controlling her feelings, always making sure every sentiment remained in check. She was so restrained; no wonder after one simple argument she broke.

_"The straw that broke the camel's back, or rather the monkey that plucked the Raven featherless. I really must thank that brainless fool when my incubuses finally catch him." _Rage thought to herself.

She checked the large, elaborately designed pentagram on the ground for the last time. Every incantation was complete, every intricate symbol revised. Nothing could be mal-drawn, lest everything go awry. She knew that the only way to completely separate herself from Raven was through this ritual, for although now she could wreck plenty of havoc and destruction, she still had a weakness, she could still be subdued. However, once she broke free, no one would be able to subdue her.

Not even Raven, the one who had created her.

An incubus perked up his ragged ears and growled softly, his beady eyes focused on the small hatch that led into the large room on the ceiling. The hatch slowly began to twist, then exploded abruptly, and a black shadow darted into the room. Despite the fact that the hole remained open, not a drop of water fell inside.

_"Speak of the demon." _Rage smiled maliciously.

--

The darkness melted away from me, revealing myself completely. About a dozen incubuses surrounded the circular room I was in, growling and snarling softly, but they did not move to attack. I bore my violet eyes into Rage's flaming ones, and then spotted the large design on the ground. I raised my eyes up in mild surprise.

"You're trying to Separate yourself from me."

_"Indeed, Raven."_

"That way I won't be able to defeat you. You'll be invincible."

_"Nothing passes you, does it child?"_

"I'm not a child. And I'm not going to allow you to do this."

Suddenly my eyes caught the three bodies suspended in the air, monstrous serpentine-shaped incubuses entwined around them, their sharp fangs sunk deep into their necks. I froze, my irises shrunken, raw dread trickling down my back. _"Friends…"_

I turned to Rage, my face livid. "What have you done to them?" I spat out to her, black orbs already forming around my hands.

Rage's face for once showed no expression. Only her eyes were visible from the insides of her hood, as she rasped out slowly. _"Right now they are reliving every moment that caused them anger, fury. Rather interesting stories too. Cyborg resents the treatment his family gave him as a child; Starfire feels inside pain and suffering in the fact that her sister surpasses her in everything she does; Robin will never forget the hate he feels for Slade and the bandits who killed his family as a child. With these feelings, I feed. I get stronger."_

She rose into the air, outstretching her arms. _"Unfortunately I never got around to meeting that snot-colored friend of yours – Beast Boy is his name, correct? Or Gar – as you so lovingly call him."_

Her eyes narrowed to slits, and a large, fanged grin spread out across her face as she mused, _"I wonder what causes him most internal anguish. His dog-bitten past – or your cold and reclusive treatment of him."_

I felt my heartstrings twinge. Rage's words were like poison-tipped arrows; they sank into my soul and burned me from inside. My hands were trembling, yet I knew the chaos that would ensue should I loose control. Instead I retained an icily passive face as I spoke in an almost distanced voice.

"I never wanted to hurt Beast Boy. I just wanted to protect him from evil that was slowly sprouting in me."

I raised my hands and my eyes clouded with a murky blackness.

"Namely you!"

Two large blasts of dark energy exploded from my hands, aimed directly at Rage. Rage raised her gnarled fingers, and then shot her own blood-burnt energy back at me. The two blasts collided, one straining against the other, nothing but a test of sheer willpower. I felt all the anger Rage had collected push back at me, all the resentment, the hatred, the fury. I couldn't fight against it. Rage cackled, her energy finally consuming all of mine and catching me square in my chest. It flung me into a wall of the room, forming a deep crack in its surface as I crashed against it.

I collapsed to the floor, motionless.

Rage laughed again, a hollow, satanic laugh. _"Don't you understand, child? You cannot defeat me. How can you defeat something that is in equal power to yourself, if not greater? It is just like fighting against a mirror. I know how you think; I know_ _all _your_ weaknesses. You cannot hope to win."_

I slowly raised my head, forcing myself to stand up despite the large, throbbing bruises newly formed on my body. "Then I guess I'm going to have to break my mirror," I breathed.

I darted into the air, and raised my hands again.

"_Azarath, Metrion, Zynthos_!"

Several pieces of scrap metal shot themselves at Rage, their sharp edges pointed directly at her chest. Rage simply deflected them by creating a temporary shield out of her magick.

_"Humph, please tell me you can do better than tha-"_

Rage's words died on her lips as black blood escaped from them. She looked down to see one carefully twisted piece of metal suddenly protruding out of her stomach. Blood dripped down her legs and dissolved before they touched the ground. She scowled and slowly began wrenching the object from her body. _"Wretched brat…"_ she muttered furiously.

While I knew that this would do nothing to her, it bought me some time. I rushed to my friends, intent on saving them from the incubuses coiled around them.

"_Azarath, Metrion, Zynthos_!" I cried, directing my destructive powers towards the leviathans. They hissed as they evaporated into wisps of smoke. I pulled them down to the ground, quickly checking their vitals.

I reached for Starfire first, and choked back a gasp. This wasn't the Starfire I knew; her normally warm and lush face was pale and blood-drained, her vivid eyes of emerald were now a sickly moss color. I softly touched her neck, begging to Azar that there would be a pulse, even if it were faint. Her skin felt like marble. I waited, waited yet…

Nothing.

A vision passed through my head; the mother's face, the child's tears.

No. Starfire couldn't be dead. Not the joyful, rambunctious alien girl who called me her 'friend', even if I often acted far from it. The girl who would occasionally join me during morning meditation, and then speak to me about her birthplace of Tamaran. The Titan who let me be as I am, and accept me for it.

How could I have let her die?

I rushed towards the other Titans; Robin, Cyborg. I felt for pulses, begging, hoping, _praying _to Azar that they were safe, alive.

Nothing, nothing. Not a beat, not a breath, not a stir. Both of my teammates…my _friends_…were dead.

It was my entire fault.

I gently slipped my hand out from under Robin's head, carefully closing his still wide-opened eyes. My own eyes blinked back acid tears. I heard footsteps behind me, the clatter of my crude steel weapon as it was thrown aside, a voice I will always and forever hate.

_"They're dead. You came too late, Raven."_

I snapped my head to Rage, who was standing a few meters away from me. I couldn't feel anything, except for one, silent emotion that kept throbbing, gnawing, worming its way out of my soul. Rage.

I didn't say a word as I shot up into the air, black energy crackling around my body. I couldn't. I had never felt such a rush of emotions at once, yet feel so numb at the same time. The energy only intensified as I barely breathed out last words.

"You…I _will _destroy you…Rage."

_"I think I've already destroyed you, Raven." _Rage sneered from under her hood.

I hovered in the air, yet my eyes didn't cloud as I readied myself to attack. Instead they mimicked Rage's, flaring crimson. I think I might've seen a flicker of apprehension on Rage's face.

I spurted towards her, throwing blast after blast of psychokinetic energy. She darted and veered, creating simple shields to protect herself, yet I didn't give her a chance to fire back. We dashed around the confinements of the room, I relentless in my pursuit of her. I wanted her obliterated. I wanted her to pay for my friend's murder.

Rage shrieked in anguish as one of my blasts shot her down, right in the center of her pentagram. I threw a look at the scrap metal scattered around the room, quickly using my magick to melt them all and reconstruct them into crude spikes. My eyes turned to slits as I eyed Rage, lying on the ground, spitting out blood. I gestured my arm to the spikes, and they rose at my command.

"This ends now," I whispered to myself. "_Azarath, Metrion, ZYNTHOS_!"

Rage only had a second to register as seven or so steel pikes rained down on her, impaling her through her arms and leg, one making its way through the chest-wound she already sustained. She remained motionless as I flew down to her, yet a coy smile played on her lips.

_"Very good Raven, very clever. But do you honestly think my death will make up for the death of your –"_

"SHUT UP!"

I trembled slightly as my hands hovered over Rage's pinned body. "I'm not going to listen to you again. After this, I won't have to."

_"Creature of Azarath, son of my breath,_

_Death to birth and birth to death_

_Hold all evil safe at bay,_

_Day to night and night to day." _

I waited for the feeling of my soul self seeping out from my body, then I could finish the incantation to finally annihilate Rage. Yet nothing happened. I gazed curiously at my hands, and repeated the spell. Again, my soul self remained in my body. Rage began to snicker, a soft giggle slowly making its way up to a maniac's howl. I stared at her as without warning the splinters dislodged themselves from her body, rocketing up into the air and toppling to the ground behind me. Rage stood up, and forcibly removed the one that had lodged itself into her chest wound. She flipped it in her hand, and said in a slow susurrus,

_"You forget, that once in the circle of Separation, any supernatural power or incantation is useless. Or did the Monks of Azarath forget to teach you that?"_

I almost didn't feel the force of the stake as it tore through my shoulder's flesh and bone, shredding muscle and extruding out the other side. My nerves somehow had managed to shut themselves off completely. All I could feel was the torrent of blood that trickled down my hand, dripping down the tips of my fingers. Every drop echoed in my head.

Rage still held on to the other side of the stake, and sneered as she pulled it out of my shoulder. I couldn't think, couldn't breath. All I felt was the faint sense of unsettlement.

Rage changed something and a supersonic pealreverberated around the walls of the chamber. The ground below me pulsed once and melted away.

The last thing I saw was Rage's vibrant eyes. And I was falling, falling, falling.

--

Ah, one last thing – I changed the chapter title for chapter two…I didn't really like it, it doesn't really fit the nature of the story. …Dunno if you even noticed it, or even cared, hah.


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